Game Over Gopher
By New Mexico State University Learning Games Lab
Business Category
Year Award/Recognition
Skills and Ideas Taught: The game helps learners:
- Understand coordinate pairs and plotting numbers.
- Identify the four quadrants and differentiating negative coordinates from positive coordinates.
- Establish the fundamentals of plotting functions on a grid
Goal or Challenge: To help users learn important math concepts without them really knowing they are learning, and to keep audiences coming back.
Primary Audience: Middle school age youth, however, younger audiences have had success playing it as well.
Assessment Approach: Players must master one level before moving to the next.
Description: Game Over Gopher offers an engaging theme and unconventional gameplay experience to help learners better understand math concepts such as plotting coordinates on a grid, number quadrants, and differentiating negative from positive coordinates –all standards set by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). The game is part the Math Snacks project, with short animations and mini-games designed to present mathematics in a different way. Game Over Gopher gives students another way to look at math and it’s availability on the Web, iPhone and iPad, makes it possible for students to enjoy the game in or out of school.
Game Engine: Flash
Operating System: PC & MAC
Platform: Web-based/Mac/Android-mobile devices
Special Hardware: None